Tamarri Lindo, a 21-year-old York University student and Track and Field athlete in the Health Studies program, won gold at the 2025 OUA 60m Hurdles and dreams of representing Canada at the Olympics. In the Canada Summer Games last August, Lindo won silver and gold in the Men’s 110m Hurdles and the 4x100m Relay, respectively.But his dreams nearly came to an end a few weeks ago when his family got a call from the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) for an interview — one that likely would have informed them they were being deported due to a lack of permanent resident status.
The Lindo family arrived in Canada seeking political asylum in 2019 after Tamarri’s father, George Lindo, survived several assassination attempts as a member of the political opposition in Jamaica. On September 18, the Lindos finally received the news that they had been granted permanent residence after public pressure in the news and on social media, as well as a petition by Migrant Workers Alliance with over 1300 signatures urging the federal government to prevent the deportation of the Lindo family.
“People really do think the law is black and white, that once something happens, it can’t be changed. We really see how that’s not actually the case with something like this,” Aidan Simardone, the family’s immigration lawyer, told Excalibur. After exhausting all the means of preventing the Lindo family’s deportation through the law, Simardone reached out to Nicole Noworyta, the owner of Avant-Garde Marketing Agency, who organized much of the social media and media strategy to bring publicity to the Lindo family and help prevent their deportation.
Although the Lindo family has now been granted permanent residence status, there are many others in similar situations who are not as fortunate.
“There is systemic racism every single step of the way, and you’re going to face more challenges if you’re black or brown,”said Simardone. “When I do an intake, like a consultation with clients from Africa and the Caribbean and the Middle East, I actually tell them, because there’s statistics to back this up, that, ‘If you’re from those regions, your application is more likely to be refused.’
“There’s a problem with systemic racism at the IRCC and we know that from government reports. I think that’s really the simple answer. It is a racism issue, right? Caribbeans are associated with crime. People from Africa are seen as uncivilized and people from the Middle East are considered terrorists. So those biases come in.”
Noworyta’s media strategy was to humanize the family and connect their story to themes the public already cared about, like perseverance, sports, religious and family values
“You know, it was such a blessing that the Lindo family had their son training,” she remarked. “He [is] a track star. He [wants] to train for the Canadian Olympic team. So that was kind of the saving grace in a way. And because he had that ambition, we amplified that. The timing was right because the Olympics were going on, [and] people love sports. And they’re a very nice family. They’re doing the right things, like sports. He’s a good student. They go to their religious group. They work jobs. They have no criminal record.”
Simardone addressed the anti-immigrant sentiments that underlie many of the attitudes and policies that affect migrants due to the cost of living and housing crisis. “People rightfully feel like they’ve been treated unfairly. The problem that’s happening right now is that that’s being scapegoated to the most vulnerable people: transgender people, black and brown people, immigrants.
“Status for all is not something that only benefits migrants. It’s also a labour issue. And it is something that would benefit everyone. If there was status for all, there’d be less exploitation, which drags all wages down. We’d be able to organize against evictions more effectively if everyone had status. That’s how you make change. [Migrants are] not taking your money, because they’re making less money than you are. They also pay a lot more for tuition. And they also pay the same cost of rent as everybody else. We’re all victims of the housing crisis.”
Noworyta and Simardone emphasized the importance of connecting to local communities when organizing. Last year, for example, before the Lindo family received a temporary permit, a protest organized at York University was especially effective. Students, track athletes, and members of his church came out to support him. “They all came and they were talking about how he’s a good student, how he’s on the team, and what it would mean for them to stay in Canada,” said Noworyta.
They credited the success of their advocacy through both social and mainstream media to the volume of voices behind it. “Often politicians won’t act until it’s really in their face and they actually have no choice but to either address it by explicitly doing nothing or by taking action on it,” Noworyta added. “I think the sheer quantity of public pressure [compels them to act].”
When she began planning her media strategy, Noworyta asked herself what the best outcome would be and worked backwards from there. “With the Lindo case, we need[ed] Mark Miller [then Immigration Minister] to give us these temporary resident permits. So I was thinking with that in mind…what will make him do that? And then we thought: okay, media pressure.”
Noworyta emphasized the effectiveness of organized action. “Power responds to power,” she said. “Even though it feels very difficult and it’s very traumatic, situations you’re personally going through or the situations that you see people going through around you, even though it’s very stressful, you can use that and create a very positive outcome that will improve your life and other people’s lives.”
In a statement on her Instagram, Noworyta posted, “To everyone who signed petitions, showed up, or shared their story, thank you. This was a team effort, and together, we crossed the line.”
